Russo-Japanese War (February 8, 1904 – September 5, 1905) was the first major international war of the 20th century and the last major international war to be waged without airpower. The conflict was the result of classic great power geopolitical comopetition for territory with strategic military value. Imperial Japan defeated Imperial Russia in a contest for control over Korea and Manchuria. Moscow had been motivated to lease Port Arthur from Qing Dynasty Imperial China and begin large scale railroad construction across Manchuria in an effort to gain a warm water port on the Pacific. Imperial Japan was motivated by a desire to acquire new territory from a much weakened China and to block a permanent Russian naval presence in the Yellow Sea, which would threaten its core territory.